A little over a week ago, one of my best friends was texting me to ask about buying film for the Polaroid camera she recently received as a gift. That conversation has given me inspiration for a new blog series all about instant photography that is aimed at people like my friend who are just starting out, because, let’s face it, the world of instant photography can be overwhelming, even for those of us who have been practicing it for years.
Instant photography is any kind of photography in which self-developing film is used to create an image. When we think of instant photographs, most of our minds immediately jump to one word: Polaroid. And why wouldn’t they? Polaroid did, after all, pioneer the instant camera, so it only makes sense that the word is synonymous with instant photography as a whole.
One of my favorite photography stories is, in fact, the one about how Edwin Land came up with the idea for the instant photograph. The story goes that Land took a photograph of his 3-year-old daughter, Jennifer, and, afterward, Jennifer asked her father why she couldn’t see the photograph at that very moment. Land found this thought intriguing and, after an hour’s walk during which he thought the concept of the instant photograph through, he went to his patent attorney to bring his vision to life.
Image Credit: EDN
In 1948, the Model 95 went up for sale at the Jordan Marsh Department Store in Boston, MA for a whopping $89.75 (adjusted for inflation, that is worth $985.62 in 2020). The camera, which produced only sepia-toned images that took 60 seconds to develop before the user could peel off the negative backing, sold out within minutes. It was — wait for it — an instant success (for a full history of Edwin Land and Polaroid photography, click here).
Image Credit: Engadget
Polaroid, like any other long-standing company, has been through many changes since then. In 2001, the Polaroid Corporation went bankrupt, and, in 2008, the “new” Polaroid Corporation, which had already gone bankrupt itself, decided that they would no longer be producing instant film. That same year, The Impossible Project, founded by Austrian photographer and SX-70 film vendor, Florian Kaps, and a former head of film production at Polaroid’s Enschede factory, André Boseman, in collaboration with Ilford Photo and with the help of Polaroid’s owners, set to work on redesigning Polaroid SX-70 and 600 films. In 2010, the Impossible Project officially achieved their goal and relaunched black-and-white film for both the SX-70 and 600 types, as well as a color film for SX-70 cameras; one year later, they released new-and-improved color films for the SX-70, 600, and Spectra cameras, and have since continued to improve their film quality, undergone a couple of re-brandings, and have even launched a few cameras of their own (for a brief history of The Impossible Project up to 2015, as told by the creators themselves, click here).
Untitled: Spring 2018
Another popular instant photography brand that we will be covering in this series is Fujifilm’s Instax brand. In 1998, Fujifilm launched the Instax Mini 10 and Instax Mini film; a year later, they released the Wide version of the camera and film, and, in 2017, they released the Square version of the camera and film. In 2012, Fuji released Instax Mini 8 (I still have and semi-regularly use the Grape version of this camera), which they branded as “the cutest camera in the world” and which garnered great success, especially in Asian markets. Later, in the year 2015, Instax sold 5 million units, and they have since continued to expand their product line and maintain popularity within the instant market (for a history of Instax, click here). Other brands, including Lomography, have even developed cameras that utilize Instax film, a few of which we will be talking about in a future post.
I am beyond excited to share my love of instant photography with you all through this series. I firmly believe in talking about what you know and in teaching others about your passions, and I can't wait to get started.
As always, if there is anything specific you would like for me to discuss or any questions you would like for me to answer throughout the course of these discussions, please, do not hesitate to reach out! Thank you so much for reading, and I'll be back next week to introduce you to the different types of instant cameras on the market.
See you then!
Series dedicated to Jolie